UEFA Champions League: Quarter-final second leg Wednesday preview

The first two semi-finalists in the UEFA Champions League will be decided in the early hours of Wednesday morning, with Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain in the driving seat to progress to the last four.

Barca are all but certain to reach the semi-finals after winning their last-eight first leg 4-0 at home to Borussia Dortmund, while PSG are firmly in control against Aston Villa after a late Nuno Mendes goal earned them a 3-1 victory in the French capital.

The Catalans giants are currently the 3.00 leaders in the outright market, with PSG at 3.25, while Arsenal stand at 4.33 after their stunning 3-0 home win over holders Real Madrid in their quarter-final first leg.

Aston Villa v Paris Saint-Germain

Aston Villa would have thought that they were well and truly in this tie before conceding late on at PSG to slide to a 3-1 first-leg defeat, however, they are still far from out of it.

The Villans - European Cup winners back in 1982 - know that scoring the first goal at Villa Park on Wednesday will be crucial, but they are unlikely to be too adventurous early on, with PSG full of danger on the counter-attack.

Indeed, Villa took the lead in the first leg through Morgan Rogers, only for PSG to hit back through Desire Doue, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and finally Mendes.

Unai Emery's side were in action at the weekend as they won 3-0 at Southampton to boost their hopes of ensuring a return to the UEFA Champions League next season, while PSG rested up, having already retained the Ligue 1 title.

Villa's win against Saints saw Marco Asensio, on loan from PSG, miss two penalties and he will be eager to make amends against his parent club on Wednesday.

Following that win Emery described the Premier League as his team's "main target", but the Spaniard will no doubt be desperate to engineer a huge comeback against one of his former employers, with Villa 10.00 to reach the semi-finals.

PSG will certainly not sit back, with Doue having scored four times in his last three games and Ousmane Dembele enjoying an outstanding season, having passed the 30-goal mark in all competitions.

Dembele is 2.50 to score at anytime on Wednesday morning and both teams to score at 1.57 certainly seems like a decent option.

Borussia Dortmund v Barcelona

Barcelona seem like they are home and dry after winning 4-0 against Borussia Dortmund in the first leg at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, but they will not want to give last season’s runners-up any way back into this tie.

La Blaugrana are now unbeaten in 24 games in all competitions, having strengthened their La Liga lead with a narrow 1-0 win at lowly Leganes at the weekend.

Head coach Hansi Flick showed how seriously he was taking that game by allowing Lamine Yamal and Raphinha to play the full 90 minutes, with the German clearly eager to beat Real Madrid to the domestic crown - with the UEFA Champions League holders struggling in the quarter-final tie against Arsenal.

Raphihna has scored a tournament-leading 12 UEFA Champions League goals already this season, while team-mate Robert Lewandowski has 11 and is 2.10 to add to his tally against one of his former clubs.

BVB know that they simply have to go for broke at their own BVB Stadion Dortmund and will hope to score the opening goal to at least themselves some hope of mounting an historic comeback.

Therefore, it is no surprise to see both teams to score as narrow as 1.44.

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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.